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Tips and Tricks to Make a Promotional Video

Getting on the top page of a Google search is tough. There are generally two elements to getting someone on to your page – get them to click on to the page, and then keep them there.

Where regular new and good copy on your blog is widely recognised as a good way of getting Google to rank your page further enough up a search ranking to get someone to click on your page, you then need to keep them there. Films on your website can encourage someone to remain long enough to perhaps click on the rest – and hopefully go on to do business with you…

This piece will look at six important things to consider in making a promotional small business video:

Get a professional

There are hundreds of small movie production companies around the world. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t cost the earth – expect to pay $200 a day for a one camera operation, and around five days work for a five minute film.

For this you will get someone who knows what they’re doing, and should produce a very good film for the price.

Be organised…

According to the experts at the Raindance Film Festival, “Disorganisation is totally unforgiveable and easily preventable by advance planning.”

If you’re paying someone a day rate to make that film, the longer they are hanging around waiting for you to put their requests into action, the more they charge!

Keep it snappy!

As with anything on the web, tell the viewer what you’re about as quickly and as punchily as possible. Ideally, you should aim at a 5 minute film unless you have some amazing footage that will really keep the viewer.

Put in perspective, the average person speaks at 180 words a minute. A five minute film script would be a third longer than the length of this blog at 900 words…

One rule of thumb taught to broadcast journalists the world over, is that you should never make a clip longer than 30 seconds at a stretch – ideally as little as 5.

Look at competitors’ videos

Can you do a better film than an arch rival? Have a look to see what they have done and see about doing it better. What do you offer that is different to them? Try to show what you do better than your rivals, without pushing it to the point they sue you!

Show pictures

Don’t just have someone sat in front of the screen giving a lecture! Show what the business does – if you are a trucking company, then show your trucks leaving your depot for their clients as an example. Show the dispatch office at work, and show happy customers signing for their goods. This is far more interesting than the Chief Executive talking about what you do…

Expect to take time over it

For a full blown TV documentary, a production company will charge 1 day per minute of film.

Given how particular some people are when they have seen the first drafts of a film, this isn’t different to the time it takes to make a film for a small business. Once the film makers have shot the interviews, and got wild track footage of your business’s operations over a day, they will then need to edit it together, which can take another day.

You will then need to look at the footage and ask for any special effects or edits. They will then go off and do this, before returning to you. Even clients who profess to not be fussy, can make requests that may involve re-shooting footage and editing even further.

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